April 1st was the 6th edition of the Ouachita Challenge. The Challenge links the Ouachita and Womble Trail systems together with fire roads and some pavement to create a 62 mile grueling “challenge”.  Registration for the race was limited to 200 riders and was full within one day. John Oakes missed the cut and entered the the tour on March 31st, the tour is the same course as the race but run in the opposite direction. The morning of the tour dawned with a steady rain as the ride started; it soon turned into a deluge. John was riding with his girlfriend and managed 50 miles in the rain before missing the last checkpoint cut off time. They were still speaking to on another afterwards so I think they were satisfied with the ride.
The morning of the race was a beautiful Arkansas spring morning, with crystal clear blue skies and a rapidly drying trail. The race starts with a rolling start on pavement with a group of 200 eager racers; the only excitement during the first three miles was the dead armadillo lying in the middle of the road unseen by the riders in the pack. Rob Pennell (of Badger Bicycles) was taking a drink from his water bottle when he hit the “speed bump”.  “What the hell was that?”
This is around the time I noticed Boomer Leopold on his new Titus Racer X 29er and I made a mental note to try and stick on his wheel as long as I could, that ended up being about ten minutes as he gradually disappeared up the first fire road climb, riding to a very impressive 12th overall finish.
The Ouachita trail is a steep rock infested trail, the climbs and descents are as much about reading the trail and dodging the larger rocks as it is about actual riding, the trail is mentally as well as physically challenging. Having injured a rib three weeks earlier at the Spa City Extreme 12 hour race I was a little tentative on the downhills, especially after having a couple of “moments” as they say. The Womble was a whole different trail, predominantly bench cut without the large boulders of the Ouachita trail; it was a ridiculous amount of fun. After stopping to refill my camelback at the first aid station, I never stopped again until crossing the finish line in 46th overall at 6:04. Having never done the race and never seeing the trails before, I was happy enough with the finish but there’s always next year (sounds like a University of Memphis fan now)
Other Memphis area riders finishing were Cal Hill at 6:07, Stephen Franklin at 6:34, Paul Hart at 6:45 (in his first attempt), Jerret  Kinder at 7:05 with  Dan Frayer close behind. Lance Pope followed shortly afterward at 7:26 after treating the race as an all you can eat smorgasbord with tales of eating roast beef sandwiches at aid stations I never saw. Also coming across were Bill Wright and Ed Garrison showing some strong riding after various mechanical and physical maladies.

Jason Sager from Utah won overall by 14 seconds, Jason was not feeling well and tried to quit at the last checkpiont. He was told that the quickest way to the finsh was to stay on the coarse; he did and hung on for the win.
Written by Chris Irving